As predicted in that post, we conducted match-up number six and have the following to report.

The sixth installment took place on November 14, 2015, matching a comparable set of eight wines. The results were as follows:

By Wine

Wine

1st

2nd

3rd

Total

(3 pts)

(2 pts)

(1 pt)

1986 Silverado Vineyards

2

3

1

13 pts

1986 Forman

1

0

3

6 pts

1987 Mondavi Reserve

1

1

0

5 pts

1985 Caymus Special Select

3

0

1

10 pts

1986 D’Angludet

0

2

0

4 pts

1989 Cos Laboury

3

4

1

18 pts

1989 Grand Mayne

2

2

2

12 pts

1982 Haut Batailley

5

1

2

19 pts

By Region

Napa Valley

34 pts

Bordeaux

53 pts

Well, as you can see, France took the prize this time around fairly handily.

So after six installments, the results stack up as follows:

France’s lead is back to 4 – 2 in overall wins. Point-wise the French have 202 points to Napa’s 174 points, a widening margin.

A few observations are in order… In this installment, the wines were from closer vintages, which definitely helped the French. The US wines were all very good, but showed their age. On the contrary, the French wines were drinking marvelously – mature but not tired – vibrant with layers of complexity.

The US wines included a Wine Spectator 100-point wine – the 1985 Caymus Special Select and while it garnered a handful of first place votes, the wine was decidedly average.

One of the most touted, or should I say “hyped” vintages is represented with the 1982 Haut Batailley – Robert Parker was made famous by this vintage and interestingly, he did not think much of this wine. He last tasted the wine in 1995 and felt that it might last another 7 – 8 years. Our results suggest that the predictability of aging potential is still more art than science… For me personally, I was thrilled with the quality of the two 1989 Bordeaux wines – both were from the first futures I ever bought!

Where does it go from here? Well if history repeats itself, I imagine a seventh match-up in 2017, either in April, or October…